1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a multi-purpose tractor toolbar device and more particularly to a multi-purpose tractor toolbar device which is adapted to be removably secured to a conventional tractor to allow conventional farming implements to be secured thereto and to render the conventional implements to travel transversely from the conventional tractor as well as travel efficiently across the top of several rows of crops for enabling activity to occur above the crops. The conventional farming implements, such as toppers, sprayers or the like will provide activities such as removing the blooms or sucker from tobacco plants, fertilizing the harvest, or the like. The multi-purpose tractor toolbar device is equipped with a sliding means which enables transverse movement, a tilting means for enabling angular movement, and a lifting means for enabling raising and lowering of the device. The sliding means will provide for the toolbar device to be transversely adjusted to the desired row(s) or can also be relocated behind the tractor to provide for the toolbar to be located centrally and rearwardly with respect to the tractor for rendering a more compact unit which will provide an easy means for transporting the implement from field to field, from field to barn, or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tobacco plants have a very weak rooting system. During the course of harvesting tobacco, the plants will grow blooms. These blooms, which grow on the plants, are generally large, bulky and heavy. Due to the structure, configuration, and weight of the blooms, the plant can easily tip over during gusty weather or optionally can retain water during a rain storm and eventually tip over due to the excess weight of the combined flower and fluid retention. The overthrown plant may eventually die and sufficiently decrease the harvest yield. Accordingly, it is desirable to remove the plurality of blooms which grow on a mature plant, commonly referred to as topping the plant. By removing the blooms or topping the plant, the crop is able to thrive and inherently maximize the yield from the harvest.
In the past and still today, some farmers will manually remove the blooms. This process is not only tedious, but is extremely time consuming as well as economically inefficient, due to time required to remove each bloom in addition to the cost of labor. Accordingly, implement devices have been developed to aid and assist in this process of removing the blooms or topping plants. These implement devices are known as toppers. The conventional toppers are typically placed on a toolbar. These toolbars are typically adapted to be removably secured to the back of a tractor.
A toolbar adapted to maintain a pair of toppers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,366 issued to Balthes et al. In this patent there is disclosed a toolbar frontwardly mounted on a conventional tractor device. This disclosed toolbar maintains conventional toppers. Though this device discloses a means of maintaining more than one topper, this device fails to discloses a means of transversely relocating the toppers. Failure to disclose a retractor toolbar provides a device which is burdensome to use and which will not efficiently harvest a crop.
Accordingly, there is a need for a toolbar device which can successfully travel across the top of plants by providing a toolbar which is adapted to travel transversely along the side of a tractor. As seen, none of these previous efforts provide the benefits intended with the present invention, such as providing a toolbar which will allow for multi-directional movement of conventional farming implement devices, such as toppers, sprayers or the like, for inherently allowing easy and efficient removal of the top of a plant, such as a flower from a tobacco plant, as well as enable the same implement to be used for dispensing a fluid, such as fertilizer, water, or an insecticide. Additionally, prior techniques do not suggest the present inventive combination of component elements as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages over the prior art device through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, which is simple to use, with the utilization of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, assemble, test and by employing only readily available material.